Long distance
by tendershippinglife
Summary: Tendershipping. RyouxBakura. Ryou moves away, can Bakura deal with it?
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first try at fanfic, so please be nice . Boring title, I know. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. Lets begin.**

Just a week after the graduation ceremony at Domino high, post the yamis getting their bodies back, Ryou moved back to England. Alone. For whatever reason, most likely he just wanted to forget about his painful and difficult high school years. He probably wanted a clean slate, a fresh start. So Bakura was left alone in Japan.

-xxxXXXxxx-

Ryou hadn't contacted anyone except Yugi since the move, and even then only very rarely did Yugi indulge in a phone call or text from the shy whitette. Apparently, Ryou had got himself a girlfriend. This time around, Ryou had the upper hand, living in England, going to university with a girlfriend and studying medicine. Bakura was stuck with his part-time job and boss who kept trying to come on to him, with barely enough money to pay rent and eat, nowhere near enough to attend college. The news of Ryou's girlfriend had upset Bakura deeply. He really thought they had had something. Ryou had even come to trust him, and they slept in the same bed for the last months together. That was when Bakura realised. He missed Ryou.

-xxxXXXxxx-

He MISSED him. How could this be, him, the great Thief King, actually pining for someone. That faint scent of vanilla that Ryou used to leave on the bed sheets had been washed off. He missed Ryou's cooking; all he ate these days was takeaway food. The apartment, once looked after by able hands, had since become dirty and unkempt. This put him in a constant bad mood. Lots of the precious rarities that Ryou had left behind had been sent to the shadow realm. On one of another countless nights alone, Bakura felt a tear roll down his sharp face. Though there was no one around, he sank into a deep pit of shame. How could he have sunk so low, to cry like a child? But he knew that there was no way of filling up the empty hole his missing boyfriend had left.

-xxxXXXxxx-

Back in England, disappointingly, life wasn't turning out to be the happy and simple life Ryou had predicted. University was fine, the medicine course challenging, but nothing he couldn't do. But while in his birth country, and speaking his first language, Ryou wasn't dealing well with the change. While everyone else was out getting drunk, taking drugs and having sex, Ryou felt out of place. While he was fully capable of doing all three of those activities, he didn't feel right doing so. It would feel so much better doing those with people, namely his friends. He missed Yugi and Yami. He missed Malik and Marik. Otogi and Honda. Jonouchi and Kaiba, who according to Yugi, were now in a relationship. He never really liked Anzu but she was among the missed regardless.

But the one he really felt odd without was Bakura. Yes. Abusive, vulgar Bakura. Ever since Bakura had gotten his body back, he had been trying to make it up to Ryou, holding his hand, buying him chocolate, not being QUITE so awful to Yami. Hell, in the last month together, they slept in the same bed. That's why Ryou never truly opened up to his girlfriend, because he knew he was gay, and he truly belonged with Bakura, though he could barely admit it to himself. Sure, they kissed and did _other_ things together but he never enjoyed them very much. His true place was in Japan, with the Thief King.

-xxxXXXxxx-

A few months in, Ryou still wasn't happy with his position in England. He went back to his room in the hall of residents after his last lecture was done and went to get changed, just like any other day. He went to his tiny cupboard and looked for a sweater. It was then when he noticed a sweater that he hadn't bought out of his case from his move over from Japan. It was one of Bakura's. His heart skipped a beat. It was like a tiny piece of his boyfriend with him. He breathed I the scent and was pleased to find that smell that was uniquely Bakura's. A smoky aroma with hints of vanilla and a tiny metallic addition of blood. He put it on, and it was almost like having Bakura's arms around him again. A silent tear fell down with sweet features, and rolled into his white hair. It was only now Ryou realised that he was in the most disastrous place to be in the world, and that was anywhere where his boyfriend wasn't near enough to hold. He opened his laptop and searched _"flights to Japan"_.


	2. Chapter 2

It was yet another uneventful, tedious day for the Thief King. When he walked through the front door of his apartment, he just fell on the ground. If you could call it a ground... It looked more like a trash heap. It was then, when he was sitting against the door amongst the fast food packaging and dirty laundry, he had an idea. New life pulsed through Bakura's veins with this new thought. He jumped up, and immediately started cleaning the apartment. There was work to be done.

-xxxXXXxxx-

It was half past eight in the morning at the London flat where Ryou was staying. His girlfriend was next to him, watching him wake up. Soon she got bored and started pinching his arm to see if he would wake up. He did, and he woke up irritated. But he knew he couldn't get cross at his girlfriend this early in the morning, so he simply sighed and swung his slender legs to the side of the bed, still half asleep. A sing-song voice called from the kitchenette "Ry, I was gonna stay and make breakfast but something came up at my work so I'm going now. Don't forrrrgetttt toooo callllll meeeeeeeeee," the voice, belonging to Ryou's girlfriend drawled, and soon came the sweet, sweet sound of the door slamming. Inside, Ryou was relived. His girlfriend's breakfasts were awful, he hated her waking him up in the morning, and he LOATHED the way he called him _Ry. _That was what HE used to call Ryou. The white-haired teen was just about to go back to sleep when his phone rang, scaring the life out of him. Irritated, he mumbled at the phone, "Go away. Not home." Eventually the phone stopped ringing. He had this strange feeling that maybe he_ should_ have answered the phone. He pushed it to the back of his mind and went back to sleep.

Several hours later, Ryou checked his voicemail. There was only one message there, contrary to the usual. When the pre-recorded message began, and he heard the voice of the person who left the message, Ryou nearly fell over. Instead of the usual voices, such as his girlfriend, boss, school acquaintances or teachers, it was a Japanese voice. He paused the message, for he knew this voice. He just let himself get in the right mindset for understanding his second language, which he was still fluent at, though he never used it anymore. He pressed play, and listened to the message. A harsh-sounding voice followed.

"_Yadonushi, host, Ryou. I'm sick of this. It pains me to say so but please. I miss you, Ry. I do. God, just listen to me. Shit! I sound like an idiot. But what do I do? Are you ever coming home? A yes or no is all I need. PLEASE help me here. I nee-"_ Bakura's voice was cut off. Once again, Ryou felt a tear fall down his face. He listened to the message again several times; to make sure it was true. Then he stopped. Went through his contacts to find one of many names that had been neglected. And typed one word: Yes.

-xxxXXXxxx-


	3. Chapter 3

Ryou paced around his small dorm room, trying to plan the coming conversation. He heard the clicking of high heels walking down the linoleum hallway. Too late. His girlfriend walked in, and bringing with her a sickly sweet floral scent, complaints, and a weight on Ryou's chest. "Ugh. It's SO cold outside Ry. I wish this weather would just STOP. It's not like this where I come from." She looked him up and down, and when her eyes reached his hair, she frowned in disapproval. "You didn't get that haircut! Your hair looks so girly like this! Just cut it already, you're not in Japan anymore, so grow UP."

Ryou sighed. "About that…"

-xxxXXXxxx-

Back in Domino City, a certain white-haired thief was celebrating. He had been 'celebrating' for hours now. He had received an answer to a particular message. Ryou was going to come back! He had cleaned the apartment as best he could. He had even blown the dust off the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed, which mainly resulted in him pushing dust around the floor, as he hadn't plugged it in at the wall. A knock at the door echoed through the room. He leaped over the couch and did a somersault to get to the door. He consequently crashed against the door, and hit his head. Still smiling brightly, he opened the door.

It was a flustered Marik and Malik. The two tan-skinned Egyptians looked on with worrying expressions, though the taller one, with wilder hair, Malik, looked slightly more relaxed. The smaller one spoke. "Are you alright? We haven't seen you in weeks, and the last time we saw you, you were… A mess. Not that you look any more normal now, which is different from the apartment. Have you had a cleaner in? So what going o-", Marik was interrupted by his Yami: "What the idiot MEANS is, can we come in? Don't worry about answering," he said as he pushed past Bakura. "So what's up?"

Bakura didn't say anything as the pair inspected his house. When they insisted on knowing what was happening he almost screamed. "RyouiscomingbacksoIcleanedthewholeapartmentcauseI knowhewouldlikethatandIamjustsoexcitedIhaveneverha dthisfeelingbeforesowhatnow?"

Marik stared at him quizzically. "Uhh, what?"

"RYOU'S COMING BACK!"

The two Egyptian's voice synchronised. "Oh dear."

-xxxXXXxxx-

"I cannot _BELIEVE_ you're doing this. You'll never find someone like me; I'll have you know! It's a good job you're pissing off back to bloody Japan, I was getting sick of you and your stupid hair. Why are you going back anyway?" Ryou's girlfriend screeched. Her eyes flew around the small room, looking for something to take her anger at. Her eyes locked on a small photo frame. A frame she had never seen before. A frame displaying a picture of a sharp-featured, white haired teen. She grabbed the photo, and swivelled around to see the Ryou's stricken face. "And WHO, may I ask, is this? He kind of looks like a knockoff version of you! He sure is ugly! He looks like a second-rate, cheap sleaze."

And that was when Ryou snapped. He saw red. His small frame was filled with rage. He might as well just go nuts, because he was leaving the next day. "THAT young man, that sexy, arrogant, amazing bastard, just HAPPENS to be my boyfriend. So you can stop insulting him now, you irritating tart."

She was taken aback. "Oh! I see. If that's how it's going to be, I'll piss off now. See you never, faggot." The door slammed in her wake. Ryou slumped into a chair, exasperated and tired. A moment later, he jumped up. Tomorrow, he was returning to Japan! There were things to be done!


End file.
